When I rescued a black and white mass of wriggling puppy 6 years ago, I never imagined that I would be propelled into the firestorm of a political fight to maintain the right to own my dog. Reef is an American Pit Bull Terrier, and she personifies what the breed should be. She is a stable and predictable dog; friendly to humans, and other dogs (unless they have no manners, and then she reminds them with her voice, not her teeth, how she expects them to behave). I couldn’t ever ask for more in a dog, and I know that many other APBT owners feel the same way, yet there is a growing movement looking to ban the dogs we love (as well as numerous others).

Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) is defined as any law, ordinance or policy that affects a specific dog breed or breeds, but does not affect any others. Common targets for BSL are pit bulls, other bull breeds with similar physical characteristics, and Rottweilers. Under this legislation, breeds deemed as dangerous to the public may be required to be muzzled in public, neutered, or banned completely. While supporters of such laws feel the need to protect the public from breeds that are stereotypically believed to be aggressive, most of these beliefs are based on unscientific theories about genetics (as in, pit bulls have the “crazy” gene) or negative associations with people who have used such dogs for fighting, etc.

There is no difference in the DNA of a pit bull and that of a Chihuahua (beyond that which makes the first weigh about 10 times as much as the second, of course). There is often no way to prove that a dog is or is not one of the breeds that falls under the guidelines of the ban. The term “pit bull type dog” has been used in some of these laws- that description could apply to anything from a boxer to a mastiff. While I could go on and on about this subject, the fact is, we need to judge every dog by their individual behavior, not by their assumed traits. For each “vicious” dog of a certain breed, I could direct you to 10 wonderful, loving family pets.

150 Responses to “Pit bulls, or our favorite family dog”

Just like everything else there’s a bell curve that represents the entire population. While a few of those individuals may fall the more docile end of the curve, the fact is that as a group pitbulls and other dangerous breeds are involved in more violent attacks. Statistics show this and that is why insurance companies are cancelling homeowners policies for those owning these and other breeds deemed as more dangerous.

Generally, a pitbull is a ticking timebomb, so why would anyone want to own one of these dogs, have these kinds of dogs around children, or for any other reason?

If we wait to judge every dog on it’s individual behavior as you suggest then we wait until someone is seriously injured or killed. That should not be an option. I’m fundamentally against government becoming more involved in our lives but this is a good example of people not being able to police themselves with sound, logical judgement.

“According to the Clifton study, pit bulls, Rottweilers, Presa Canarios and their mixes are responsible for 74% of attacks that were included in the study, 68% of the attacks upon children, 82% of the attacks upon adults, 65% of the deaths, and 68% of the maimings. In more than two-thirds of the cases included in the study, the life-threatening or fatal attack was apparently the first known dangerous behavior by the animal in question.”

When you lump together “pit bulls” and “pit bull mixes” – essentially redundant designations that encompass a large population of mutts, along with another popular breed, Rottweilers you get just over 50% of serious dog attacks. This is a surprise? A pit bull is in the eye of the beholder, and when that eye is a news reporter or a policemen, it’s usually the dog that just bit someone.

The statistics regarding children are also misleading. Most serious dog attacks are on children. Period.

And as for “the life-threatening or fatal attack was apparently the first known dangerous behavior by the animal in question” in whose judgement was that? The same people whom you do not trust to police themselves? If you take away their pit bulls do you think they will go get a goldfish or another dog to chain out in the yard all day? Will we be arguing over banning their German Shepherds in a few years, just like our parents did in the 1970′s?

I agree 100% about people lacking sound judgement. That’s why it’s so easy to get them to support banning dangerous dogs instead of coming up with a real solution to dog attacks.

Eric makes some good points about such statistics.
Judging the relative aggression of any dog should happen long before that dog attacks some other animal or person. Aggressive and violent tendencies are overt and easily noticed, not latent qualities that unexpectedly manifest one day.
Dogs, just like children, reflect and are shaped by the adults that raise them. If someone wants a guard dog who will attack, they will probably, regardless of breed, get such a dog (or a terrified dog who might bite out of fear). People looking for dogs for that purpose, or worse for fighting, tend to choose bull breeds because of their physiology and strength, not because of some imagined ingrained violent quality.
I will say that there are some dogs, just like some people, who are idiopathically aggressive- they are violent and dangerous without reason, and it cannot be traced to learned behavior or upbringing. In those cases, I’m not opposed to any of the various degrees that can be taken to deal with such animals (including euthanasia). However, the VAST majority of animals grouped in with bull/rottweiler types do not have that quality, and when raised as good dogs, will be good dogs.

I agree that we (and our dogs) are certainly influenced by our own environment. That does not change the fact that pitbulls have historically been bred to fight. To suggest that as a group pit bulls are just as safe as other breeds and to suggest there is no difference between breeds genetically is a false statement.

Very soon there will be a DNA test to distinquish breed make-up and yes, German Shepherd Dogs along with several others will also be on the list of more scrutinized.

Specifically with Pitbulls, as a group they are inheritantly dangerous and predisposed to inflicting a lot of damage when they do attack.

The basic question is as simple as “are better off with or without a seatbelt in our cars?” I suppose you will be able to find a situation or two where a person may have suffered less injury had they been thrown from a vehicle.

We need to ask the question, “Are we are better off with more or less pitbulls in the world?”

“A five-year-old girl from Merseyside was killed by a pit bull terrier-type dog recently, and hospital admissions for dog bites have doubled in 10 years.

NHS figures show that 4,133 people were admitted to hospital last year suffering dog bites, almost double the number in 1996. More than a fifth were children under nine.”

The United Kingdom effectively outlawed Pit Bulls in 1991.

The ban is not working there. Partially because it is very difficult to ban something you can’t define, which makes it an unproductive distraction (see my blog for some ruminations on that), and partly because banning breeds does not address irresponsible owners.

So to answer your question, it seems to be either a wash, or maybe the UK was better off without the false sense of security that a breed ban gave them?

P.S. As far as the genetic test goes, if the gov’t was willing to spend $25 – $50 a dog in order to help prevent dog attacks, then they wouldn’t be so eager to go for a quick fix “feel good” solution like a breed ban.

â€œWe need to ask the question, â€œAre we are better off with more or less pitbulls in the world?â€

The answer is “less”.

The issue of irresponsible dog owners is actually compounded by allowing them to propagate dangerous dogs instead of having them spayed or neutered.

In this specific case the dog has been documented by its owner as an AMERICAN PITBULL TERRIER along with a picture of what appears to be a litter of more pitbulls. This would actually be a very easy case for a prosecuter to solve which could result in heavy fines and possibly jail time.

On the issue of breeding and “propagating” dangerous dogs:
I’m firmly in support of required spaying and neutering for all dogs purchased or adopted as companion animals, with the option for ethical breeders to get licensed to breed and type of dog, including pitbulls. Breeding dogs at home without thorough knowledge of the breed, or worse, with the intention of raising them to be overly protective and aggressive, is a big problem. Not just for pit bulls, or rottweilers, or other “aggressive” dogs, and not just because of the potential for training such dogs to be violent. This method of creating dogs often results in dogs with unnecessary health problems, which are dogs that will be abandoned because they aren’t useful to the people who bred them.

The issue of genetics vs. environment is certainly up for debate, and there are not clear answers right now. However, I don’t think it’s coincidence that people who have studied dogs and know more about them than the average dog lover are also people who defend the “pit bull types” as dogs, and condemn the negative environments they may be raised in.

“That does not change the fact that pitbulls have historically been bred to fight.”

Yes, “Pit Bulls” (which are not even a recognized breed as far as the AKC is concerned, so once again we have to distinguish exactly WHAT registry we’re talking about when catagorizing a dog as a “Pit Bull) were bred to fight- dogs and bulls. Not humans. Human aggression in these dogs is and always was considered and unforgivable fault. The dogmen who bred these animals for fighting had to be hands on and step in to break apart fights – this left no room for human aggression. Behind each of the dog attacks you see on the news was an irresponsible individual- dig a little further into their backgrounds and often you will find criminal records, child abuse and other cases of animal abuse. Should INNOCENT animals (the ones who have shown stable and sound temperaments for the entirety of their lives) suffer because of their actions?

To pass a law that proposes the banning/destruction of a type of dog because of their appearance is the same argument that those who support racial profiling use to justify their actions. “Well, he looked like a group who we believe statistically has more of a chance to commit a crime, so we decided to pull him over, off this plane (etc) because there is a POSSIBILITY he might be dangerous (even though he never did anything to make us think that, except exist.”
BSL is discriminatory; it targets huge numbers of “law abiding” dogs in order to weed out a handful of offenders.

The problem is not the pit bull, it’s the pit bull owners who raise the dog to be mean and fight or they just simply neglect the dog and then find trouble down the road. Outlawing the breed is like saying we should outlaw black men. It’s a proven fact that a majority of crime is committed by black men. Not just minor crimes, but major crimes. We all know this is true, but did you ever ask your self why? The answer is simple, look how most black children are raised and look at the enviroment that they are brought up in. Inter-city projects are a training ground for violent criminals (oh by the way guess what the most popular pet is in the inter-city projects) who have no real supervision. Put any dog in that kind of situation and see what you get.

Like I said the problem is not the pet, it’s the owner who is in charge of the pet. We should start cracking down even harder on the pit bull owners and for that matter anyone who owns a dog who can’t seem to find common sence and raise a dog with the proper care.

So I say to Angela Davison, we need more pit bulls and less dumb ass pit bull owners. Don’t blame the innocent dog on the guilty owner.

Hmmm…so the possibility that a dog ‘might’ attack and cause serious harm is enough to justify banning them? That’s going to be tough, since there are a lot of breeds that have the capacity to do serious damage.
Let’s take the (Very flawed) CDC statistics for an example, even as flawed as they are.
“Pit Bulls” are responsible for 76 deaths in 20 years according to the study. That averages out to 3.8 deaths -per year-.
Okay.
In 2004, there were approximately 1,117 children that died by neglect and/or abuse at the hands of their own parents, according to the Admistration for Children and Families. That averages out to 3 -per day-.

For anyone who has something negative to say about pitbulls,shephards,mastiffs, etc..Have you ever owned a Pit bull? Have you ever owned a German Shephard? A Rottweiler, or an American Bulldog?

How can you speak about what you dont know? Based on statistics you read from another individual that has no idea what they are talking about? I have met more aggressive Pomeranians and Poodles than I have these breeds. How anyone can say that they are a “dangerous” dog disgusts me.

“a pitbull is a ticking timebomb, so why would anyone want to own one of these dogs, have these kinds of dogs around children, or for any other reason?” …. To Angela I say – what are you talking about????

Icompletely agree with you about the comment of “Judge the deed not the breed.” My grandfather raised dogs and he knows alot, but one thing I don’t agree with him about is he believes in the evil or crazy gene too.
I say that it’s not the dog…it’s the trainer. If someone doesn’t know how to raise a dog to be respectful and mind all the time then they shouldn’t raise a dog at all. Because of all the other people who are into the dog fighting and raising ferocious guard dogs, we the ones who love and care for them are being punished and our dogs being ridiculed just for their breed.
If you think about it’s the same as saying African-Americans were inferior to whites or anyother race. It just isn’t right for a dog to be judged that way. Just like us, they don’t ask to be a certain kind of breed or color or so forth.
Pitbulls, Rottweillers, Huskies, and other dogs that are known for bad reputations are among my very favorite breeds of dogs. I have an extremely strong opinion about how people can think that the breed is what makes the dog mean. It’s not as I’ve said it is the trainer, the owner, not the dog!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s all I’ve got to say about that.

ive always been told by people that pitbulls were all very mean. so when my brother brought one home. at first i wasnt very fond of it. then it grown into being my best friend. she was everything i ever asked for in a dog. she was smart. listened. and behaved. she was the nicest dog i ever had. and it kills me to hear people say there harmful. when really your dog becomes what you are. if you are mean. your dog will be mean. if you are lazy your dog will be lazy it doesnt matter what breed it is. its just the people only read the bad stories. theses dogs have the greatest power. there just never given the opportunity to show it.

I used to look at pit bull’s as a “ticking time bomb”, but that’s before I rescued a pit bull puppy from the dog pound. I’ve had him for two years and he’s never displayed any aggressions toward me nor anyone else of that matter. He share’s his food with my three years old sister, she can’t go two feet close to my lab’s or my golden retriever’s food bowl. Don’t judge the dog for what their owners trust them..The only thing my Pit has ever done is completely steal my heart. Don’t judge this breed if you’ve never owned one for your self.

I can honestly say that before my brother brought home a pit bull puppy I was somewhat iffy about the bread. As I have watcher her grow (which she is still in the process of doing)I have grown to love and have alot of respect for pit bull breeds. Her mother and father are both very kind dogs and never attacked anyone.I know that people think they are dangerous, and maybe some of them are but I believe it is mostly stereotypical. I compare pitbull attacks to things such as a celebrity going to jail, if it was any unfamous person not many people would care, but because they are famous it draws alot of attention to them. Pit bull attacks are the same way, if any other dog were to attack a person no one would really care but on the other hand when a pit bull attacks someone it draws alot of attention and contraversy just because of the breed. I also believe that the environment of pit bulls has alot to do with the way they turn out, bring them up in a good home around alot of people and dogs and I’m sure they will be just fine. People above me saying negative comments about pit bulls, get one, and I promise you will fall in love with them.
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I think what bothers me the most is the fact that if they were to ban a dog in the united states, what would then happen to that breed? Would they actually allow them to simply fall off the face of the earth? My point is…they are always talking about endangered species, and that we should help them to survive. Simply put, they might as well ask or simply declare that they want to make this species endangered. No, it’s not a whale or a bald eagle or some other mammal that’s about to fall off the face of the earth…but damnit it’s just as important!

Statistics show that pitbulls have more dog attacks and deaths. Why? Simply because of the breed and what they’ve been made into. 80% is the actual figure of the breed of dog that is the most aggresive with children and child/adult attacks. And do you know what breed that is? Not pitbull! It happends to be German Shephard. Which is why there was a huge thing about banning them as well. You simply don’t get as much of the media on these attacks as you do pitbulls. Because of the breeds. I’m a huge doglover. I’ve owned pretty much mostly large dogs my entire life. Pitbulls, Rottweilers, German Shephards, Mastiffs…ect ect. And out of all of those dogs, which one do you think attacked me as a child? None. It was my neighbors Collie that bit me and took a chunk out of my leg. I never pulled it’s tail or ears, or poked it or anything. It simply just snapped. Possibly out of fear. I don’t know. All I know is, it is most certainly how you raise your dog. If your cruel enough to leave your dog chained up all day outside absolutely famished with no food and no water. Yeah, it probably will attack someone. What’s worse is…it would then be your fault, but the dog would suffer the fate of death. And in cases like that, I wish it was the owner getting the same fate. People who fight any breed. Doesn’t matter what it is…it will 90% of the time attack or kill another animal or human being. It could be a pitbull or a chihuahua.

In my own personal opinion, I believe pitbulls to be the biggest babies of all breeds. With the sweetest dispositions. Very hardy dogs. And are absolutely awesome if trained properly.

This issue is very dear to my heart, of the dozens of pit bulls I have met, I have yet to encounter one that is violent or aggressive. I was at my friends house with my Pit, Billy last week when I realized it was a little too quiet. My friend’s 4 year old daughter took Billy up to her room and dressed him as a princess! When I found them in her room, he was completely calm and complacent about being dressed in a purple tutu and tiara.
I believe that distinguishing a particular breed as violent and evil is no different than doing the same with human ethnicities. If statistically more African Americans are involved in violent crimes, are they innately bad? Banning a breed seems reminiscent of the holocaust when “evil and subversive” Jews were banned from eastern European society and subsequently murdered.
If trained and socialized accordingly Labradors can be deadly, and Pit Bulls can be trained as service dogs.
Neglectful and abusive owners are the only demographic that should be punished for their existence!
-Carina and Billy

I thank you so much for putting this up. Really, I appreciate it. My family has always owned a pit. My mom had a pit when I was a baby, when I was a young kid, and all the way through my teenage years. Now I have a pitbull, and I really hate how lately they’ve been getting this horrible label of being a nasty dog. It’s all in how you raise them, nothing more.

PITS ARE THE PROBLEM ITS THE OWNERS FAULT. I HAVE A PIT AND SHE IS NOT AGGRESIVE AT ALL YOU CAN PULL ON HER LAY ON HER. ANY DOGS JUST AS AGGREAIVE AS THE NEXT.WHEN YOU PLAY WITH HER SHELL ACT LIKE SHES GOING TO BITE YOU BUT SHE LICKS YOU IN STEAD.

The points noted below show that APBT’s, Rotts, and Presas are at the top of the list for DBRF and maulings. It also points out that most bites occur to the face and that it is primarily to small boys. Please take a look at those three things before writing these breeds off as “ticking time bombs.” Every single dog needs structure and a calming environment, as noted by the case of the pomeranian killing an infant. However, the child needs as much if not more structure and guidance. The reason bites to the face of small boys happen more often than any other is because they get in the face of the dog and antagonize it. If the child is not told what not to do around a dog the child runs a high risk of injury from any breed. These three breeds mentioned stand out simply because of their raw power and speed, certainly not their tempermant. People own dogs for companions, a properly handled and trained dog of any breed can become a great companion. Please see http://www.atts.org and look for yourself at the nature of the animal before you judge them.

it is true that pit bulls arent mean, they are nice, but when their owns train them bad thats why everybody says bad thngs about them. its not fair to them that they get killed, because their owners treat them badly and train then badly. so dont think all pits are bad…they arent, if u think they are its not their fault blame their owners. my neighbors have a pit. her name is tabby, she is the nicest dog u will ever meet. i go over their everyday almost and when i go over there i always have to play with that dog. they have another dog, and its a cocker spaniel, those dogs play all the time, and tabby never gets aggressive, she is always calm, i have never seen that dog be mean. she is always nice…and thats because they trained her good….they didnt try to make her bad….the sad thing is this: the owners have heard so many bad things about pits that they were thinkin about putting her down. but they havent and im glad…..

I grew up with 2 Rotweilers that were extremely well behaved. I would imagine someone could have broken into our house and Cindy (female Rotty) would have licked the person to death. I never imagine owning a Pit-bull and my wife who grew up with Shelties refused to own a dog larger than 30 pounds. Well, we rescued a pit-bull puppy a few months ago and WOW how our views have changed. She is only 6 months, but is extremely well behaved. We take her to the local dog park a few times a week and she plays very well with all breeds and sizes of dogs. We also have her around many people and children. The most viscious thing she does is lick them and roll over to get her belly scratched. I do believe if you own a larger dog you really need to dedicated the time and effort to adequately train and socialize them. I have seen too many pit-bulls and other “dangerous” breeds that are chained up in someones front lawn, and are obviously not trained or socialized. What do you think is going to happen when a dog like that gets loose and someone starts to run from them? Not going to be good. But that same thing could happen with a lab or golden retreiver under the same circumstances. I have many many pit-bulls since we adopted Lily and the majority of them have been very nice, but as stereotyped I have met a few that were more of a power symbol for their owner who puts spiked collars on them and wants them to be tough and mean. I would recommend getting a pit-bull, rotweiler,German sheppard, etc to anyone ONLY if they can commit to the time and effort it takes to properly train, excercise, and socialize them.

train your dog. socalize your dog! attacks would be less common if people would actually care about their dogs. there are pits that have gone their whole lives never biting a person. it’ all about knowing what to do with a dog! ANY dog can bite! ANY dog can be mean! BAN them all if your going to ban a few. If you ban certain ones then your going to notice a rise in other dog bites, then those dogs will be banned and so on.

I love pit bulls, and I’m so glad you did this. I’ve never had one, it’s illegal to have them here but I do not believe all of them are as bloodthirsty as people make them sound. German shepherds are responsible for more attacks than pit bulls and they haven’t brought up as much controversy…

I’ve had large dogs all my life pitts, rotts, german shepherds, chows, dobermans, all the dogs people say will turn on you. No dog of mine has ever bit me or harmed me or my family in any way. It is how you raise and treat the animal that makes the animal. If you take a child and leave it unattended it will be wild and uncontrollable. People that cannot raise children to be productive, caring, members of a community do not need an animal to raise. If you don’t want dogs attacking people or other animals you should have to take a test to decide if you will be a responsible owner, and for that matter maybe you should have to take a test before you become a parent.

Hi. I stumbled across your blog while doing a search on Google. The week of Christmas I was visiting family in Arkansas. A good friend of the family is the vet for the local humane society and does lots of rescues. She had been called by a deputy that had seen 5 puppies on the side of the road shoved in a bird cage with no food or water. She went to get them and was able to save them all. They were all severly malnourished and dehydrated as you can imagine. My sister from AZ was wanting to adopt a “smallish” dog for her 13 y/o daughter and I was wanting to find a companion for our Pembroke Welsh Corgi. We went to the rescue farm to see them and fell in love with those sweet faces. We were told that they were most likely rat terrier mix (I think they were going by the mask that 3 of them had) and their general appearance, but the more I look at our girl Sparkle, I think she may be a APBT mix. Here’s a link to a picture of her on imageshack. Could anyone advise as to if they think she could be an APBT mix? Thanks

The recognition of this breed as great companions if trained properly and raised in a family home setting is excellent. It’s terrible the way negative attention is brought to certain animals through media attention. Also in response to Angela Davison – your comments are very uneducated and judgemental, and FYI those are way too small to be APB pups, and are clearly Chihuahua as is mentioned in the article.

[...] unofficial mascot of Georgetown University was a mixed breed dog named “Stubby”. An American Pit Bull Terrier/ Boston Terrier mix, Stubby was quite a famous hero during WWI. A great deal of time passed after [...]

Wow, I got my dog from the animal rescue league here in iowa about two years ago. and She looks identical to this dog here… even the pink noes is the same. And the discription of how she behaves fits her to a T.

They are a wonderful and amazing dog. Athena is very much so a lap dog and loves little kids. I had a 5 year old stay with me for 7 months and they played every day, never even a growl from the puppy when playing.

I own a Pit Bull and a Pit Bull Black Lab Mix. It’s funny how everytime I encounter another Pit Bull owner all we do is talk about how unfounded the the stereotype against pit bulls is and how wonderfull the dogs are.

When I was a kid we had to get rid of our beagle because it was a nasty dog who bit. This beagle would seriously have torn apart a Pit Bull or Rotweiller. I’ve also seen very nasty, very powerfull Golden retreivers before.

It has to do with upbringing and genetic pre-disposition(in other words was some iresponsible puppy mill breader in-breeding dogs of the same breed to make money).

[...] Wheaton Terrier. You get to feel powerful as people cower away from you and the Rottweiler or Pit Bull you’re walking (though you know in truth they are big babies). And you get to hear the [...]

[...] whole Pit Bull idea,but to settle my own fears,(and my boyfriend got one). I now own a 11 week old Pit Bull Terrier. I love him to death. I have been reading for the last week on how to train them on being NICE and [...]

To Angela and Eric: The reason Pit Bulls are supposedly attacking more often is because of bad owners who abuse them and train them to kill. Also the media is far more likely to report a Pit Attack than a Golden Lab or anything else. I have only heard of two attacks by other dogs in the last 5 years do you really think that means Only Pit bulls have been attacking? Of course not in fact the only times I was ever bitten or attacked by dogs they were German Shepard mixes. I am not so dumb as to say that all shepards are bad, Our neighbors dog broke my nose standing up to take a treat from me. He was a huge German Shepard who weighted well over 100lbs and was around 5’8″ on his hind legs. I never blamed him for that although I know some people would’ve sued. But I have insurance and never needed to go to the hospital anyway. Any dog can go nuts and they are way more likely to do so when they are Beaten, fed Gun Powder and deprived of any real food. You should know what fighting pit bulls go through to make them that way before you start smarting off about how awful they are. Pit Bulls are great dogs and I have never ever met a mean one, Not even once, Not a snarl or growl Ever. I have probably known over 200 Pit bulls in my life and if there’s one thing I know it’s that I would choose a Bull as a pet over any other breed any day.

If there is such a percentage indeed as i read a lot of you say then why is it that you blame the dogs?Why not look at how they we’re raised?But all i know is that most Pittbulls that i got into contact with including my baby which died 3months ago we’re the best breed that i have ever seen,I live in Aruba so they are not banned yet…But there is some that want a law against the also so i hope for all the pittbull lover’s that you won’t give up!

I’ve encountered dozens and dozens of breeds as a dog fosterer. My favorite foster dog is still my Lab-Pitt boy because he was the loyalest, goofiest, warm-hearted sissybear I ever encountered. He had been about a year and a half when they found him on the side of the highway. Judging by his first couple weeks with us, he never had proper training – no housetraining, no obedience training, probably very little human interaction and even less dog socializing. He can’t speak for the entire breed but I’m not exaggerating when I say Sammy did not have an evil bone in his body. Unsure what kind of family would adopt him, I made sure to expose him to all sorts of environments and people and he never approached a situation with aggressive behavior. He was eager to learn and what he didn’t understand right away, he made up for with enthusiastic goofiness that melted my heart. Why would anyone want less of him around? Certainly not the man who adopted him. We did the two month check up after Sammy’s adoption and the man and his 10 year old daughter love him to pieces. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind having more dogs like Sammy in the world.

I specialized in large-breed fostering and surprisingly, the only dog that bit me was my smallest foster – a 35 lb female bloodhound. Doesn’t fit the assumed stereotype that bloodhounds just sleep and lay around all the time, does it? I’m not trying to point the finger on another breed. This particular dog had a history of food aggression and was passed on to me as a last resort to keep her in the foster system since others tried to work with her and failed. Sure there are some dogs with a distrust so innate that they can attack but the chances of that being a spontaneous act is slim to none. It is more likely that attacking is a learned behavior they picked up from a bad trainer.

[...] of his vehicle. Walter Witthoeft went to top off some fluids when he was greeted by a very cranky Pit Bull. The dog had somehow gotten stuck inside the engine of the Pickup and had gnawed through wires, [...]

My Grandmother was given a lab (rescue) that her youngest son decided he didn’t want anymore, and that dog was honestly the most vicious dog I have ever encountered! She would growl at first to warn you then if you ignored her warning she would charge you! The mail lady (who was in a car) reported the dog many times because of the dog trying to get her threw her car! So do I think all LABS should be banned UH NO, I think that poor dog was just old and pissed at the world for the fact she hadnâ€™t had the best life and finally found someone to love her and was protecting her home! I was raised with a PIT BULL who was the biggest baby to everyone, he wasnâ€™t even a good watch dog he didnâ€™t bark at people when they came to our house he just shook his whole back half and tried to lick them! My dad had heard enough of our neighbor complaining about â€œButchâ€ getting out of our yard, when you couldnâ€™t drag him out of our yard (we had an electric fence all the way around our yard and he was shocked by it one time when we first got him and never crossed it again!) in fact it was a stray Pit whoâ€™s tail hadnâ€™t been docked! Who he said was chasing his cats and pooping in his yard so my Dad found Butch a new home and within 6 months he had grieved himself to death! They had an autopsy done and there was no other reason medically why he passed!

A few years back a neighbor had a vicious German Shepherd who could not be trusted. They had had the dog since a puppy and told me the dog had never been abused. My own observation’s of the family’s loving interactions with and care of the animal convinced me this was true.

The dog bit my hand, one day, without provocation. She snapped at my hand and released it immediately, leaving only a small puncture wound. Therein lies the difference between a German Shepherd bite and a Pit Bull bite. A Pit Bull has been bred to have extremely powerful jaws and is predisposed to hang on when attacking. I would be lucky to have a hand left to use had I been bitten by a pit bull rather than the german shepherd. This is what makes a Pit Bull inherently more dangerous.

I heard an owener of a Pit Bull talk about how gentle her dog was. All the neighbor children played with it. Then, one day, her best friend’s five year old son backed the dog into a corner, ‘barking’ at the dog. This supposedly gentle dog grabbed the child by the throat and killed him.

You never know when any animal might feel they have to defend themselves. Do I believe that German Shepherds and Pit Bulls, as a whole, are more vicious than some other breeds? Actually, I think very small breeds are more likely to bite you, waiting until your back is turned and running up and nipping at your heels from behind. But those bites rarely get reported. The problem is that some breeds are just far more dangerous when they do attack. And you never know when that might be.

Instead of attacking the “children”, maybe you need to take a look at the parents. You know it’s funny how my big beautiful pitt bull was found, abused, tied up, and was put on the table to be euthanized BECAUSE he is a pitt bull. If they were trying to make him into a vicious killer, let me tell you they failed. They succeeded in terrifying him of any noises, raised arms, quick movements, etc. and let me guess what you are thinking, he attacks me right? WRONG! He runs, he shakes, he paces, he’s nervous and NOT ONCE has he ever lunged at anyone, growled, or bitten even the most intimidating of them. In fact, it took months before I even heard him bark, so go ahead, blame his breed because he is such a vicious killer. Instead, why don’t you take a look at these ridiculous human beings who look at the breed and decide they want to have a guard dog. When the dog doesn’t do what they want, guess what happens next. This could happen to any dog and it does on a daily basis. Pomeranians are some of the meanest little ankle biters you will ever meet, but because their not pitt bulls or “dangerous”, they are accepted and even called cute! Judge the owners, outlaw bad parents!

I believe that picture is NOT of a litter of more pitbulls. It’s a litter of MICE. And you think you should be able to pass judgement on who and whatever you please. Of course you automatically jump to believing they are pitbulls in the picture and that for some reason breeding pitbulls is illegal (which it is not) when if you’d take a second to actually look at what was in front of you, you’d see a “pit bull” laying peaceful with a litter of mice. Judging a dog by it’s breed it just like judging a person by the color of their skin, which I wouldn’t be surprised to hear someone like yourself do. If you did research, you’d find that MOST studys find the most aggressive dog breed to be a DACHSHUND not a pit bull. If you’re not going to do real research, at least Google these types of things before you decided to make an idiotic comment on the internet.

Most stories here are anecdotal and have no scientific or statistical value. It is true that small breeds are far more aggressive ( fear factor) than large breeds and are more likely to bite than large dogs. However, these injuries are usually superficial; to hands,legs and feet and do not result in serious outcomes as they are made by small teeth and a less forceful bite. As far as I am aware no one has died of a Poodle bite – unless the dog was rabid of course.

This is not the case with large breeds with ‘ killer instincts’ like Pit-Bulls and Rottweilers. Most children have been killed by the dog going for the neck or the face. This is what a Pit Bull does best when they fight bulls in a fighting pit (called Bull baiting in UK-hence the name Pit- Bull)) – they go for the bulls muzzle or the neck and does not let go easily, with locking of the jaw, inflicting serious and fatal injuries. Just like the ‘ killer bite’ of a tiger or a lion.

I am sure most Pit Bulls are harmless and some even sweet and docile and the few who are aggressive have been abused or trained to be aggressive. But the fact remains that most deaths due to dog bites involve children and large breeds like Pitt Bulls account for 80% of the reported cases.

All deaths due to dog bites have to be reported and it would be extremely unlikely ‘ to go unreported’ if someone was killed by their pet Chihuahua or their beloved Yorkie.

I just stumbled upon this site while researching a topic for my anthropology class (against the pit bull ban)and I think that anybody who thinks that a pit bull or any pit bull type dog is vicious and deadly is a fool.

I’ve been bitten in the face very close to the eye at the age of 5 by my next door neibours cocker spaniel. I was rushed to the hospital and had only one stitch but was emotionally damaged for life. I was the 6th attack the dog had made and evidently the worst. After my attack, the dog was put down because the family was expecting a new baby and they couldn’t let anyone else get hurt. The point is, this family was perfectly responsible (though I wouldn’t have put the dog down) and yet the dog still attacked. Some dogs can be born mean, or could just have certain breed temperaments.

I currently own two retired racing greyhounds (who people also think are dangerous) and they are the most lovable things in the world.

I also agree that the dogs size plays a huge part in the damage it does during an attack.

Kudos to anyone who supports and owns pitties and may your loved pit bull dogs live long, healthy and happy lives.

Never get your information from a site dedicated to the breed or against it. Never trust the media, they only tell you what sells stories. Trust government sources and official sites that actually gather facts and analyze them.

If you don’t want to do your own research, here are a few well researched facts. The funny thing is that some of these facts came from the links I found on the dog bite law site that is listed in one of the pit bull haters responses. This is not a scientific site, although it does have links to real sites. This a site created by a lawyer who specializes in dog bite cases. (Just look at the about this site info.) If you are going to do research, please be careful.

The number of fatal dog attacks is always low and has gone down in 2008 (23 fatalities nation wide). There are more dogs and people now than ever rise but dog fatalities have gone down drastically since the introduction of leash laws and animal regulations. 40 years ago only 2% of fatal attacks were caused by pit bulls and rottweilers combined. There was an age when it was the German Shepherd that had the reputation and there was a move to ban the breed. There have been years when Saint Bernards or Great Danes were the major cause of dog attack fatalities in the US. In every generation there is a new dog emerging as dangerous and it can be directly traced to whichever breed is now popular, especially among criminals.

There is one constant over the years, over 90% of dog attack fatalities are found to be the fault of the owners who train the dog to be vicious or abuse and mistreat the animal. No single breed has been shown to be more responsible than another. Look at these statistics for 1974

Yes, you saw correctly, a dachshund climbed into the crib with an infant and killed it.

Notice, no pit bull or rottweiler related deaths in 1974. From 1979 to 1980 there was not a single rottweiler related fatality in the US. From 1993 to 1998 rottweilers caused the most fatalities.

The media really helps to creates scares since many attacks reported to be pit bulls are reported by eye witnesses who mistake one of the 30 look alike breeds for a pit bull. It’s not news to be wrong, so you never see a correction of breed in the news. Many attacks reported as “family” dogs are actually dogs that are abused and tied up without food. These are not family dogs but resident dogs. They may live there but they are not a part of the care or love of a family.

Attacks are most often caused by male dogs that have not been neutered. Only breeders or show dogs have a reason to not be neutered. Most dogs, especially high energy dogs like pit bulls, will not lose their love for life if they are neutered.

I’ve owned both a pit bull and a pit bull boxer mix. Both allowed children to abuse them to the point of pain and, in one case, damage to the hips. (We caught the kids holding the dog’s hind legs and using her as a wheel barrow.) I have had two of the children that abused our dogs bitten in the face by Cocker Spaniels, one requiring plastic surgery. As my husband sat in the emergency room with our 2 year old he noted that on the reported bite list Labs were number one, the cocker spaniel was number 3 and the pit bull was number 9.

Pit bulls are a favorite to use as therapy dogs because of their docile nature and the fact that they have a high pain threshold so that children aren’t in danger of causing the dog to feel threatened. Our present pit bull lets my uncle’s Boston Terrier chase him around the house and cowers and pees if we yell at him too loud. He was a rescued stray. Another interesting fact is that all except one of the abused dogs rescued from Michael Vick’s fighting organization was rehabilitated. Many are family pets with small children or therapy dogs. Some even peacefully share their new families with other dogs.

The Dutch government recently lifted their pit bull ban when they discovered that it made no difference to the amount of dog attacks and bites.

Do you really want to get mad? Read about how people torture these and other dogs by pouring gas on them and lighting them on fire, cutting off their paws then dumping them in a drop box. Tie them with a chain as a puppy, never play with them, rarely feed them and don’t change the collar size until the chain cuts into their neck and eventually kills them. The list is endless. And you wonder why these dogs might attack someone.

You can hate the breed if you want, but please be educated and stop spreading misinformation.

I’d just like to point out the recently departed president’s adorable terrier bit a reporter. Are Scotties now going to be on the ban list? Any dog can bite, but few dogs are predetermined attackers. Most often they do what they’re asked to do by their humans (not implying the prez asked Scooter to eat the reporter, but not saying it’s not possible, either…). Pitbulls were originally used as nannies because they’re loyal and protective. Those characteristics will make a dog a good fighter *if that’s what is asked of it.* Look at Best Friends and all the Vicks dogs; in an environment that expects respect and getting along, the dogs are succeeding, because that’s what is asked of them. The whole thing is just silly. Basic high school logic class should tells us “All men are humans, but not all humans are men.” Same concept.

It’s easy to tell when people are uneducated about things. Virtually everyone who has a problem with Pit Bulls describes them as “large breed” animals. They’re medium-sized dogs. The breed standard for an APBT is 30-60 pounds. My dog falls in at 40 pounds (full grown).. certainly not the huge, dripping-fanged monster everyone seems to associate with Pit Bulls. She’s actually quite small. It’s just sad how many people voice their opinions without even looking into the subject first.

I don’t want to point fingers, but lakshman’s comment was particularly interesting to me. lakshman, every dog has a “killer instinct.” This isn’t exclusive to Pit Bulls or Rottweilers. That is a trait of the canine species called “prey drive” and in actuality, MOST animals possess it. Pit Bull’s don’t have locking jaws.. they have the same type of jaw as any other dog. Their bite pressure may be higher than some other dogs, but it’s less than a human’s.

And P. Rickey, I’m sorry to hear about your friend’s son. That is absolutely horrifying and my heart goes out to the parents. However, if more people would educate their children on how to treat an animal (especially a potentially dangerous animal like a dog), there would be far less bites. Barking at a dog while backing it into a corner is certainly threatening behavior. Dogs are good learners, but they don’t understand everything we do- even if it’s a joke. That doesn’t mean the dog wasn’t gentle under normal circumstances- it means the dog felt scared and threatened and reacted to that.

In any case, breed bans and even ordinances don’t work. Generally speaking, vicious dogs are harbored by abusive, neglectful owners- most of which have already been charged with crimes. They’re criminals and criminals don’t obey laws. They are not going to pay attention to the breed bans. Legislation needs to focus on punishing those who have trained the dog to be mean.. and ENFORCE those laws with fines and (in a perfect world) jail time. Only then will you see a decrease in dog attacks.

I firmly believe that Pitbulls are more dangerous than most breeds. My reasoning is that you should look at what brought this breed into existence in the first place. Beagles were bred for hunting and nearly all instinctively hunt. Border Collies that have never seen livestock ever in their lives will instinctively circle a flock of sheep, and a Terrier will instinctively go after vermin. These behaviors are all hereditary after countless generations of selectively breeding for the desired traits. Again: what was the original task and purpose of the Pitbull? A docile member of the breed is really not a good indicator of the overall characteristic behavior of the breed as a whole. Thank you.

I have a two year old pitbull and she is the most gentle loving dog I have ever had or seen no matter what breed. I also just bought two pitbull puppies and they are the cutest little things. My adult pit bull is so great with them she has taken them right under her wing as if they were her puppies. I am a true believer that it’s all in how you raise a dog no matter what breed it is. I have only ever owned pit bulls and would never change my babies for anything they are the best. You couldn’t ask for a better dog then mine.

My daughter got a pit bull who had been shot and left for dead. i begged her to not take in this killer. she however did. fallon never held a hard feeling to anyone or anything in this world. She had a beautiful litter of pup and my youngest daghter adopted a male (Hoss). He came to our homes four years ago at 2 days old. He lives with myself two kids and to prize doxi. I know he would put his life on the line for me and mine. I would do no less for him. He has no idea people fear him. We have never shared that terrible human behavior with him. He loves everyone and everything.He growls at times but so does the doxies. He is a dog.He acts and behaves no different that his k-9 family here.

I HAVE OWNWD PITBULLS FOR OVER 16 YEARS. BEFORE THAT I HAD ALL DIFFERENT KINDS OF DOGS MUTTS AND PUREBRED. THE PITTS STOLE MY HEART. WE HAVE 2 RESCUED ONES CURRENTLY. WE ALSO HAVE THREE OTHER DOGS. WE HAVE 5 HOUSECATS AND CHICKENS. THE PITS GIVE ME NO TROUBLE AT ALL. THEY EAT ALONGSIDE THE OTHER ANIMALS NO PROBLEMS. ALL 5 DOGS GET THEIR BONES TOGETHER NO PROBLEM. THEY ARE LOVABLE LOYAL AND MOST OF THE TIME BIG BABIES. ANYDOG RAISED WRONG CAN BE A PROBLEM. I SAY THE OWNERS OF SUCH DOGS BE FINED HEAVILY AND NOT ALLOWED TO EVER OWN ANOTHER DOG. DRASTIC MEASURES NEED TO BE TAKEN. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE MY PACK TYPE IN GRANITE CITY PET HOSPITAL IN ST. CLOUD MINNESOTA THEN PET GALLERY. OURS SHOULD BE THE FIRST PHOTO. ANYONE WANTS TO TALK PITS I WOULD LOVE TO LISTEN E-MAIL ME cheryl.bird@att.net.

I just have to weigh in on what I’ve read.
To respond to those who say that Pitts have a “killer instinct’: Yes, they do. All dogs do. The house dog is descended from the wolf, which is a predatory animal. Interestingly, so does the other animal we most commonly share our homes with: the house cat, which is one of the most efficient killers in the animal kingdom!
To answer those who cite the purpose for which Pitts were bred: yes, they were bred to fight. Most large- breed dogs were in fact originally bred for “violent” purposes, either to attack intruders (Dobermans, Rottweillers, Mastiffs,etc) or for “bull- baiting”, such as boxers and bull dogs, or to trap and even kill other animals(hunting dogs like the fox hound, greyhound or even most terriers!) I beleive that many of these dogs can become dangerous not only from outright cruelty, but from an owner’s failure to understand the dog’s background and characterisics and train it properly. Early training and socialization is the key for any dog; you can’t leave them tied outside and expect them to be reliable dogs.
And guess what the number one breed for dog bites reported in the US was for several years running? The vicious Golden Retriever!

So pitbulls, are a very contriversal breed. Im 15 and just came onto the pitbull v. USA scene. And i wonder, if the AMERICAN pitbull terrier is in danger of being banned then whats next? Apple pie?
we freaking bred them into what they are so if we have a problem then hello lets be smart and do as every dog trainer would tell you to, and try to help these dogs by using compassion, not a needle. So i wonder where will our ignorant fellow Americans take us next… stay tuned for the update!

I own two pits and a shih tzu, and they are everything to me. I believe every dog has the potential to be dangerous my shih tzu is more dominate then both my pits. We shouldn’t stereotype towards a entire breed because of bad ownership. If you put a lab in the situation where pits are often put in, I’m sure the results would be rather similar. If pits were given loving families things would be a lot different. But because of people who are out there for bets these dogs have to pay for it? If you want to talk statistics then you should know that it is more likely for someone to die in a RV accident then by dog bite. If this pathetic law passes, I’m sure one day we’ll all end up having goldfishes as pets. And soon enough labs would probably be the next bad thing. Come on now, change is possible, but it doesn’t have to take away our rights in owning a dog or a breed of dog.

I have read through much of the discussion from recent all the way back to 2007. I am an owner of 2 pitbulls and recently a rottweiler that we lost to cancer. My husband and I are pit bull advocates and I read, blog and research as much as I can to defend and educate for a species that can’t for itself. I don’t know how many times I read that this breed was bred to fight… that much is true. They were originally bred and used for entertainment purposes as bull baiters. Once this was proved to be inhumane, people started fighting them against each other for sport. More breeding was done to make these animals fierce, strong, loyal but not aggressive towards humans. This enabled a dog fight to be going on and for the dogs owner to be able to reach in and not be bitten. These dogs had such love and loyalty for their owner that they would die fighting because they knew that made their owner proud and that is what was being asked of them. In almost every breed of dog, the most desirable trait is loyalty to their owner, however, the pit bull breeds have been taken advantage of throughout history and their loyalty has been used against them. As a pit bull advocate I am ashamed of my fellow mad at what we can do to an animal. What kind of pain and anguish we can make an animal suffer through. I spent time as a Humane officer and saw my share of animal cruelty. Never in my time as an officer or investigator did I ever meet an aggressive pit bull. I met many scared, discarded, mistreated and misrepresented pit bulls that required some TLC and they were able to rejoin society. However, as an advocate, it is my responsibility to state that a pit bull should never be left alone with another dog or small child. It should not be trusted to not get in a fight with another animal. It should not be trusted not to bite someone or something. I say this not because it is a pit bull but because it is an animal first and a pit bull second. All animals will act on instint. If scared or provoked they may bite. Unfortunetly, too many times I have seen pit bulls blamed for things that they probably did not do and I have seen news papers blow stories up on the front page to seem as if a massacre occured when a minor bite happened. All the while knowing that if the bite had been from a lab, the story would have never made it to the paper, maybe not even the authorities. I have received many calls during my time as a officer/investigator regarding to ‘vicious pit bull attack’ and when I would arrive it wouldn’t be anything close to a pit bull. This is a big problem that leads me to my next issue with statistics. Statistics are great, but they are not always correct. Many agencies don’t report correct information because they don’t have it. Police stations for instance receive numerous pit bull, rottweiler, german shepard calls,etc. calls yearly when these dogs aren’t even the culprits. Why? People are finding that if they say that a scary breed is running vicious and loose then men with guns will come running. The call is logged as a pit bull, rottweiler,etc. and statistics show these breeds responsible. DNA testing does not occur and therefore any dog can be portrayed as a vicious breed and the blame usually lies with pit bulls. We all know where the Pit Bull breed came from. We all know they are still used in the underground dog fighting, however, more than ever we need to help this breed in a positive way. By shedding light on the people who bring so much hurt and horror to this breed will put the blame where it belongs. The dogs only do what they were manufactured to do. We need to placing blame on the irresponsible breeders and making in more difficult for them to continue to breed these animals that clearly have a rocky future. Pit bulls have a rought past and a dire future but have proven that they CAN and ARE able to co-exist in society. With positive reinforcement and less negative whipping on breed, I think we can move the breed forward to help us all. If we can all live together, our children will be safer, our parents and grandparents will be safer, and we will have peace at mind that these dogs have loving homes and not a chain in some dirt ridden yard. People wonder why these dogs can get so mean…well, I ask you to paint a picture. These are fad breed. To have one is to be someone in certain ‘clicks’, so you pay $50 for pit bull puppy. However, you can’t afford adequate care, shelter, food, nor do you necessarily know how to care for a dog. So, the dog is chained up in the back yard with a dish of food and water (which is spilled constantly due to the chain knocking it over), desperatly cold in the winter and hot and pestered by flies in the summer. Not a lot of affection is remembered. Very lonely life. No walks, no companions, no honest love…very confused. I have to ask, was that picture very pleasant.? I don’t care if you are a pit bull or a poodle- you can’t be pleasant if your life was started and spent like that. Again, during my work through the Humane society, I can into contact with a lot of animals whos life was that picture above. They may not have been physically beat (although some where), but they where emotionally and mentally beat down because they weren’t socialized or allowed the life that all creatures should be given.
My last comment is to anyone who is currently showing a pit some love! They all deserve it and we deserve theirs in return!!! There is nothing better than a big Pit Bull kiss at the end of a long hard day….someone once said that dogs are a wonderful part of your life, however, they are just on loan to you for a short time. So enjoy them as much as you possibly can and don’t forget to spoil em’ every once in a while!!!

P.S. I also want to voice my distaste for those who BUY puppies. Not only is this bad for pit bulls because it continues the cycle of breeding and too many of a species, but there are too many DOGS period. The fact that shelters and humane societies exist is proof of that. Adopt a pet. Not only are you saving an animal, but you are also stopping a breeder from causing over-population and over-breeding(different things).

i have a 3yr old pit an a pekingnese an a yorkie i love them all but my pit is very special to me he is a very loving caring dog an he jst wonderfull
in the past i have been chased by pit bulls once when i was 7yrs old whitch made me be very fearfull of all dogs then when i was 16 after that i decided i needed a good friend by my side so for a birthday my friend gave me my first pitbull she was wonderfull but she didnt like men at all an it was a problem.i had to give her away to my friend because i moved from a house to a apartment so then i had a 2nd pit bull who was BIBO my 3yrd old pit me an my husband bought him when he was 2month old he has been a great pet and i don’t know why some pit bulls r a lil agrrasive then other but i think it has to do with the way u treat them because my previous pit she hated men because the boys from the block use to tont her pook her and throw things i belive its the own americans that made the dogs mean im sorry but if some one bothers me hits me i will attack also…

okay first off … if there were an uprising in red cars hitting people would you ban red cars? NO! do you have any idea how many people die a year due to smoking? have we banned them yet no … do you know how many people and children a year are attacked by golden retreivers and labs? i bet you dont … if you are abusive and treat your animal that way, they are going to grow up to be violent as well, just like if you raise your child to be violent by abusing and neglecting it, it grows up messed up. You people are listening to TOOOO many statistics and watching WAYYY to much TV … grow up .. maybe go down to the shelter and meet with a pit bull first hand, and see how “mean” they really are … yea, you’ll see how loving they are, no more are pit bulls bred to fight with few exceptions … do you know why people picked them to fight and bred to fight? because of their loyalness and eagerness to please, you could beat,stab and starve your pit bull and they would kill to save your life just because they want to please their master, and thats why people pick them, for every one pit that attacks someone there are 10,000 more than wont and dont, all of you people are honestly retarded, you would have to be to say the things that i have just read … open your eyes and minds and shut your mouths, my god … learn the truth before you speak the damn lies.

For those of you who think these dogs are evil and bloodthirsty, I don’t ask that you own one. That’s a huge commitment. Please just go to your local humane society and meet one. Just give one a chance. It might lick your face til you’re soggy, but it’ll steal your heart too.

They’re beautiful, loving dogs whose primary goal in life is to please their human. Too many horrible people have abused that love, and led their adoring dogs to cruel deaths. They don’t deserve to ruin the reputation of the entire sweet breed, too.

It is amazing to me that some people can be so closed minded. People talk about statistics, if you think about statistics and if we when’t by them all the time then our world would come to an end. Think about it, statics show that some races of human are more apt to be murderous or drug lords then others and look at how we veiw people in general. If we all judged people the way we do with dogs then we would have alot less people in our world.
I have been an owner of a pit-bull many times over and I have never once had a problem with them. Like alot of people have said before on this website, you can train any dog to mean or very over protective (watch dog). And all the children that have been mauled by dogs, is mostly because kids without knowing what they are doing are being mean to the dogs on the other side of the fence by taking a stick and running it against the fence, throwing rocks at them or just taunting them. After dealing with that day after day, how would you feel? I have known labradores,(one of the most known family dogs) to be aggressive but that doesn’t mean that they are all like that. So with all this being said, no matter what dog you have, just like any person, every dog has there breaking point. Just dogs are animals that take a little longer to reach that point.

first off i just want to say ive had my pit for 12 years and in all the time ive had her shes been nothing but the greatest, she grew up with my pug and she always thought she was his size wanting to be on your lap. i have lots of young cousins that would play with her and shes never shown aggression toward anyone! not even to our gardner that comes in our backyard where she is during the day, the worst that she can do is lick them and turn around so they can scratch her back. but i do gotta say she’s a terrible watch dog only cause if someone was to break in through our backyard or house she would either run or greet them with kisses, but i do love her strong bark! i would and do recommend pit bulls to lots of families that inquire about them. they are all around great dogs!

so for anyone to say that this breed is a “ticking time bomb” is an uneducated fool! you may know all the statistics and so forth, but until you have actually own a pit and experienced their loving nature please do the society a favor and keep your closeminded mouth shut!

oh and by the way those little babies in that picture are not any type of dog they are either baby mice or rats!
thanks

I have been caring for my brothers friends pit bull and honesty he’s the most well behaved dog I have ever met. When playing with my sisters dog, a Golden Retreiver whose 1 and loves to play bite, he’d like her and that was all. Yes Pit bulls we’re bred origanlly for fighting, so were mastiffs, and akita’s, and many other breeds. The fact that my Golden/Lab mix is more likely to attack someone then Opey (the pit bull). I believe how a dog behaves is soley due to owner and horrible breeding when people want agressive dogs. I’ve seen a collie(looked just like lassie) who attack someone just becouse she was walking infront of the house. My dog was attack be a border collie mix too. I guess if Pit’s have to go then it’ll only be a matter of time before Goldens and other popular lovable breeds are used for fighting and they will have to go too. People are quick to judge and not listen to the otherside. Have you even noticed most dogs that attack have had owners who TRAIN them to be that way? These attacks out of the blue are crap. Any abused dog would attack if being taunted too. Which I’m sure in quite a few cases they kids where taunting the dog. But they won’t tell you that in the news. Pit bulls and all other dogs being jugded should not be. Cause guess what? People kill, and rape children too but they don’t get the death pently. Not unless it’s an extreme case. I see no reason to destory the whole breed, yes the ones that attack maybe should BUT only if it was a random attack and not someone trying to brake into their home. (Yes if someone tried to brake into your house and you don’t have a beware of dog sign even of it was a Golden that bite them the dog could be put to sleep. Even though it was trying to protect it’s home and family.) All my favorite breeds of dog’s happen to be the “bad ones” why? Cause they really are just big babies most of the time and wouldn’t hurt a fly. It’s how people train and raise their pets. Yes sometimes a dog can be aggressive just because of breeding but thats not to often the case.

P.S. I know a pomerainian who bit someone should they start destroying and outlawing them too?

I just want to pass along a quick story that happened to my dog the other day to show what the media and ignorant jerks who run their mouths about things they know nothing about cause. My wife, my dogs and our foster dog had been at the lake and were packing them up in our SUV. As we put them in we take them off leash so we don’t get pulled into the car. Anyway we were putting our last dog in our Blazer and some idiot drove down in his golf cart with his dogs running off leash in front of him. Our female 28lbs Staffordshire bull terrier (who we had just adopted and used to be our foster) she is still learning but, has never had a mean bone in her body. When we brought her home she immediately made friends with our male Stafford and female Boxer. She even cuddled with our cats on the first night and has gotten along great with every dog, person and cat she has met even a ferret. She loves to meat new dogie friends and is very eager to do so. She got away from me at the last second and ran up to one of the off leash dogs that was 3 times her size and sniffed his rear and began to play with him and a stick she picked up. She and our other dogs had just got done using the same stick. the other dog got a hold of the other end of the stick and they started to play tug of war. I was jogging over but, saw no reason for alarm and thought how neat that 2 dogs that just met could get along right away and that if any Pit bull haters saw this they might rethink their opinion. I was dead wrong. I saw the owner of the off leash dogs pick up a large log and go towards my little Staffy w/ it. I began to run. As soon as my dog saw the man with the log she cowered and let go of the stick. I watched the man pause but, he then raised the log and clubbed her across the back. I was sprinting by then and got to her in time to stop the second blow that glanced off my shoulder and then I picked her up. I yelled at the man that what he just did was animal abuse and he retorted no what your dog did to mine was abuse. I then told him that all he saw was breed and in actuality it was 2 dogs playing who just met. I could see the expression on his face as he realized his mistake but, instead of apologizing he went off on me with the usual “those type of dogs” crap and said if I wanted to call the police to make sure to tell them his name is Blank (I knew who he was because his family owns our local paper and owns a lot of land, plus he has been our neighbor for 8 years. his paper was also the biggest supporter of the BSL that we beat, so I should have realized he was a known Pit bull hater.) I let him know who he was doesn’t matter and the only thing that does is that he just abused a dog for Obviously PLAYING with his dog and then asked if my dog was a lab or something would he have bludgeoned her or would he have thought how nice that 2 dogs who just met can get along right away or did he just see breed. He then finally said “Perhaps”. I guess that was his pompous way off staying out of trouble and sort of admitting his mistake with out loosing to much face. I want to add that I had checked our Little dog over during all this and she seemed fine. we took her to the vet and she only received a large bruise that didn’t seem to bother her. she is in very good health and has no long term problems from this. Thanks to me stopping him fro beating her to death. I was sickened by this incident and he accomplished his goal by scaring us with his family name, so even though our vet and everyone I know wanted us to report it I never did except to our home owners association who all love our dogs and know their character. I also reported it to the head of our Humane society that we foster for. I sent the man a bunch of materials about the true pit bull and several websites. I have heard nothing back, not even an apology and this happened more than a month ago. We thought we were 1,000 times more careful than the average dog owner and have many many years of exp. with “Pit bull” type dogs but, now we know we had to step it up to 10,000 times more careful to not only have our dogs as good examples of the breed but, to protect them as well. I just felt I needed to pass this on to show that all the lies and myths out about this wonderful breed can cause people to hallucinate and see even the most benign thing a “Pit bull” type dog does as viscous. We are still afraid to go to the lake that is just in front of our house less than 45 ft at any normal time and always check to see if anyone is there. If there is we turn around and leave.

Pit bulls and Rottweilers and their mixes are the most popular breeds in our country. A more realistic statistic would be the percentage of pets owned in the breed or # per 1000. This is just spitting out numbers to impress yourself.

MICAH- if that would have happened to me and my dogs I don’t think I could have held my fist and foot back from his face and groin! for real. me and my boyfriend just moved and we have three pits and three of my neighbors which one of them is also a distant family member have threatened to shoot my dogs. my dogs got out of the fence and were running around the neighbor hood not hurting a thing just checking it out and i wake up to people yelling at my dogs i go outside and my neighbor says you better get your F’n dogs and if I see em again i’ll shoot ‘em. it’s terrible. and I had to think about what i would do if that happened to me what if I saw it. I would go to jail my dogs are my children.

This is bull-crap people shoud not treat pit bulls diffrent than any other dog,just because they where bred to fight dose not mean there are not any good ones out there sitting in a kennle at a shelter!!!!!!!

ok i have something to say i have two pit bulls and one rottweiler they are the best dogs i have ever had but our rottweiler and one of our pitts are dog aggresive but not so mean we cant take them any were some times they might growl at another dogs but thats all are other pitt is the sweatist thing and so are all of my dogs. yes they are protective but have never attacked anyone and never will. we always go into petsmart and the frist thing people think is that there mean and ask if they bit.also they will never let there kids near them, no matter what we say. it makes me mad everone thinks there so mean. this is the only dog im going to have anymore. the only reason you hear about those attacks is beacuse people fight them they get out and they attack people. so what im saying is that its how people treat them. what you hear on the news, its not really them. well i really hope i changed some peoples opinans out pitts because there really good dogs and if you still dont like them then i guess you can think what you want but alot of people dont agree. one more thing did you know more than 85% of the unided states own pit bulls.

ok dogs dont know there size look at all the little dogs that are mean if your going to talk about pitts then you might as well talk about chuauas (spelled wrong) because like i said dogs dont know there size

I at one time was one of them people who was scared to death of pitbulls. after years of my husband bugging me and meeting his friends pit i caved in. it was the best decision of my life. I am now the proud owner of two pits. Zeus who is 7 and Laiah who is 2. I have never had such loyal dogs in my life. They are very protective over us but defends us with barking not attacking. They live with a husky, a chihuah and cats. The chihuah is more aggressive then the pits. I am so tired of people giving the dog the bad name instead of the owners. any dog can be mean or nice it is all in how they are raised and loved. Pits are known to be owner pleasers, so if you have someone telling them good dog for fighting another thats what they will do. i live by the quote ” ban the deed, not the breed”.

I’ve met so many pit bulls, including therapy–yes THERAPY dogs and I’ve never met a mean one. Additionally, I used to go to the local animal shelter every thursday and pet every dog, (many of whom were bully breeds or pit mixes), and wouldn’t you know it, although I stuck my fingers in every cage, I was NEVER bitten. In fact, the only dog bit I’ve ever received in my life was from a Golden Retriever. (I still love Goldens, I own one). Like so many have said before, please don’t judge the breed, judge the deed.

[...] Specific Legislation acts being brought forward in more and more areas across the country, dogs like Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Doberman Pinschers and other “scary” looking breeds are in danger of [...]

I adore my pitbull he is an inside dog. He loves cuddleling with you when falling asleep. He is adorable and very playful and friendly. We need good owners to put a good example of what a pitbull dog really is.

Regarding Angela’s comment: “If we wait to judge every dog on it’s individual behavior as you suggest then we wait until someone is seriously injured or killed. That should not be an option.”

I had to enjoy that comment insofar as its complete and utter idiocy made me laugh harder than failblog has in quite a while.

Angela, you ARE aware that, following your logic, all people should be considered dangerous because of a few seriously flawed individuals, like Hitler or Stalin. The depths of their atrocities are so extensive, no dog could ever fathom such cruelty. So what do you do in that kind of situation? When one individual agent could kill MILLIONS?

@ Linda: While the breed was created to fight bulls and bears initially, human aggression was NEVER tolerated in the breed. Terriers as a WHOLE are generally tenacious and loyal dogs, very attentive to their handlers and willing to please (although their intelligence sometimes gets them labeled as “stubborn.”) I can’t even tell you how many Golden and Labrador Retrievers I’ve met who were terribly unstable – the breeding pool has become WAY too shallow, the breed is being overbred and people are making the same mistake you are: thinking that, due to their dog’s breed, they can predict any and all potential behavior.

A Golden Retriever sent my dog to the emergency room – 28 stitches to the face. No, my dog was not provoking the GR – he was sniffing a bench and went to pee (not mark, but relieve himself) on it in the dog park. The GR’s owner was KICKING his dog in the head (after vocal commands, physical attempts (i.e. pouring water over his dog’s face), etc all failed) and it took over 2 minutes to get his dog off of mine.

Just the other day, a Labrador (not neutered) was brought into the dog park. As a regular attendee (almost daily M-F for an hour after a 3 mile walk), this dog hadn’t been to the park for months (the owner confirmed the dog hadn’t been in such a setting since the previous summer) and was completely unsocialized. Within 20 minutes, the dog had a small terrier (a Cairn mix, I believe) by the throat.

So, to all the Angela and Lindas of the world: I know you can’t fix stupidity like a flat tire, but perhaps you should educate yourselves to even the most minimal extent before making comments like those you’ve made. At best, you look woefully misinformed and happily ignorant. But to think that all dogs can be categorized on certain attributes not related to individual temperament is beyond overly simplistic – it’s idiotic. And such generalizations are the cause of many negative incidents. A Pomeranian killed a child in 2001. Many Labs and Lab mixes (not mixed with APBT) have been involved in fatal incidents with people.

To use your logic: women are dim (and, before you start voicing your outrage, I AM a woman). Both parties are showing flawless idiocy and the only common trait is that both are female, therefore females are stupid (that’s using your logic, not my own).

Mandate responsible ownership of ALL breeds. You need a license to operate a car, you should need the same to handle a dog. Both are great if you know how to operate them and both can do serious harm if you don’t. Both should be treated as a privilege, not a right.

So, in sum, you can do one of two things: You can remain scared little ignoramuses or you can learn a thing or two.

I wish we could ban stupid people. That’d be fantastic for everyone, especially the dogs.

Re: Angela: “In this specific case the dog has been documented by its owner as an AMERICAN PITBULL TERRIER along with a picture of what appears to be a litter of more pitbulls.This would actually be a very easy case for a prosecuter to solve which could result in heavy fines and possibly jail time.”

I actually wish I hadn’t posted my previous comment for the very reason that you are FAR more dense than I could have ever possibly imagined. If you can’t tell what kind of newborns are in that picture, you shouldn’t be anywhere near a vaguely intelligent creature (don’t worry, you-as an individual-would be exempt from that group so you’ll have your own company in addition to a few Sea Monkeys).

You don’t even know how to spell the breed name and yet you want your input about it to be taken seriously? Your blinding ignorance completely negates any and all input you feel compelled to share on this topic.

As a side note, coming from someone who has studied the law AND is going to veterinary school – you know nothing of the legal system OR dogs.

“The issue of irresponsible dog owners is actually compounded by allowing them to propagate dangerous dogs instead of having them spayed or neutered.”
Any creature that has teeth can bite. Period. Can we spay/neuter stupid people? I’d be all for that.

Is there an overpopulation problem with APBTs? Yep. There’s a HUGE overpopulation problem with all breeds of dogs and cats. I am ALL for spaying/neutering. There are millions of loving companions perishing in shelters and suffering as strays in the U.S. alone and yet people endorse the practice of bringing more into this world.

I used to think Pit Bulls and pit bull mixes were bad dogs, then I met my friend’s Pit Bull/Bullmastiff mix. Max is one of the biggest dogs I have ever seen. He alone weighs more than all 3 of my dogs (100 pounds). And yet, he is gentler and better behaved than my dogs (I own two pugs and a boston terrier). My friend has raised him from a puppy (he’s now 7 years old) and she has raised him right. He is not kept chained up in the backyard but lives inside with her in her apartment. He has his own sleeping area and his dishes are kept cleaned and stocked. He is given hugs and kisses, and he goes with my friend to the store, out exercising (he pulls my friend on her bicycle!), and when our city has outdoor concerts, he accompanies her there as well. She does not need to muzzle him because he doesn’t show aggressive behavior. Now, my friend is smart about him. Sometimes children come up and pet Max, and my friend stands over Max and supervises him when that happens, just in case they startle him. He also doesn’t like male dogs that are his size or bigger, so my friend is careful in situations like that. But smaller dogs are fine.

Max is a wonderful dog, and I would hate to see good dogs like him banned because of evil, crazy, stupid owners who need to be gutted like fish. Max has been raised right, and has been well taken care of. What a lot of people don’t understand about Pit Bulls is that it’s their love for their masters that leads to bad situations like dogfighting. Pit Bulls are made to be aggressive towards other dogs, not humans. And, many Pit Bulls and other dogs that attack are antagonized by people that don’t know the first thing about dogs. If you frighten or hurt a dog, it will react, and sometimes violently. People have to be smart with dogs, and that is ever more important with Pit Bulls. They aren’t for everyone, and maybe there should be limits on the kind of person that can own a Pit Bull. But the breed itself shouldn’t be banned.

I JUST WANTED TO SAY THAT I HAVE A PIT/BLACK LAB MIX AND HE IS THE BEST FAMILY PET EVER! I HAVE TWO CHILDREN, TWO CATS, AND ANOTHER DOG AND HE GETS ALONG WITH ALL OF THEM. THE BLAME SHOULD NOT BE WITH THE BREED BUT WITH THE TYPE OF OWNER. I COULD TRAIN ANY DOG TO BE MEAN.

let me just take this chance to say PITBULLS R THE BEST DARN DOGS EVER let me just ask all these pitbull haters, have u ever sen anyone get attacked by a pitbull?Have u ever been attacked by a pitbull? have u ever even took the chance to acutually get to know this dog?Well i used to be like u haters. I used to beleive stupid people and stupid ?facts~ but u know wat i changed!How? i blew of statistics and ?facts~ and actually took the time to meet this dog. I did and it was 1 week of being best friends with a 1 yr. old pitbull from the shelter in SLO County his name was Greyson, that is the sweetest dog ever, i have to edmit ,i was scared at first on monday but friday of that week was differnt, i wanted to take that dog home with me, that was 2 yrs. ago im 13 right now in 8th grade, that was 6th grade over the summer and after that i pomised no mtter wat i do with my life, im helping these dogs, these dogs r my babies and i need to defend them! judgin pitbulls like this is like being racest against dogs! its like if a white person met a black person and the white person mad him mad so he defended himself and seriously hurt him, then the white person tells, then everyone starts finding black people who do bad things and every one hates every single one, even tho they r individuals and each one of thems have different hearts.we do bad things too, u cant just see one person stab someone and every one be hated for tht one thing. maybe dogs should feel that way about us, i think every dog should hate people, bcuz we do abuse them, but know u dont see pitbulls dong that to us,y cuz they r loyal dogs.any dog can do the same exsact damage a pitbulls, but no, cuz they have been fighting dogs, u just hate on them, might i remind u who made these dogs fight in the first place PEOPLE . its also not far how we can murder someone and only get a few yrs. in a cage, but a dog does one silly bie and they half to get killed?wat happened to treat other the way u want to b treated?

I agree with the idea about the back ground of a dog, but to make such a profound statement to say Black men are involved in the majority of crimes is disgusting its not a FACT- HOW ABOUT if I make a statement that most white men are sexual predators, I might see it on TV and in the news that all these Church Men have molested all these thousands of children, but I dont say they all molest children because it is not fact. That is whats wrong with People. That is sad statement to hear in this day and age. And all black people do not come from the ghetto, The Ghetto does not go hand in hand with being black it goes hand in hand with being poor, or less fortunate. They have ghettos all over the world, and they are not full of black people. I will agree that all different types of People come from the ghetto and people are a product of their environment, just as dog’s are. I recently got a blue nose from a family member and she is unsocialized with her other dogs, so I am in the process of working on her dog aggression, with unsocialized pits its hard to tell if they wanna just meet other dogs, and sniff em, or if they really want to be aggressive. So Good luck to me. That is why early training, and socialization is so significant with these dogs.

I have owned a “pit mix” dog. I have owned some Akitas (also known sometimes as “fighting dogs”). Foxhounds, Huskies, Bull Terriers. I grew up next to a man who raised Staffordshire Terriers. As a kid I’ve played in the kennel with the “pit bull” puppies of my neighbor with the mama dog watching calmly. And I have been bit by dogs before, too. I was bit by my friend’s black lab across the street when I walked into the garage before he did and the nervous nursing mother wanted me to be far away from her pups. I’ve been bit by a coworker’s cocker spaniel, because it was psychotic. And I’ve been snapped at by my wife’s miniature pinscher because he is a 7 pound terrier with delusions. I have NEVER been worried about my well behaved, properly socialized big dogs. But those little yappy barkers? They scare me!

It’s still amazing to me when I read/hear people talking about banning this wonderful breed of dog. Yes, these dogs are breed to fight, by HUMANS! That does not mean that they are born KNOWING how to fight, humans TRAIN them how to fight. It is not in their DNA to be violent. They are highly intelligent, curious, happy,loyal, loving, oh so loving, big snuggly babies.
Again, HUMANS are responsible for the reputation of this breed. It’s time to have harsher punishments for the stupid, ignorant humans who use this breed for violence.
I’m the proud “Mom” of not only two human sons, but of a 7mth old Red Nose Pit Bull,Henry, who is a wonderful addition to our family. Our human sons are 5 & 3 years old, and they climb all over him and wrestle with him and he is a gentle giant. He loves meeting new people and animals, he is very well mannered, but that’s because we are training him that way, just like any other responsible dog owner.
Just like every other breed of dog, human owners decide their dogs fate. I agree with Kevin, I’m more afraid of being bitten by those ill-mannered little yappy dogs, than any of the large breed dogs I know.

[...] it was easy to see that this breed is seriously misunderstood. Google the breed and hundreds of I love my dog sites pop up. The pbrc or the pit bull rescue center confirms it, the dog is like any other dog [...]

I own a Pit-Bull mix. He is 1/2 Australian Sheppherd and half pit. I rescued him from my sisters boyfriend, who left him malnurished on the back porch of his apartment and rarely walked him before work, yet would kick him when he came home from work, opened the glass door and the dog would release his urine (an entire night and days worth) from sheer excitement to finally be able to relieve himself. He was NOT socialized properly, and he had ZERO manners when i got him. I encouraged (we’ll call him Ted) to have the dog neutered, and to bring him to me for obedience training. In that time, i loved him, socialized him, fed him, wormed him and taught him some strict obedience. I did all of this in the hopes that a well trained dog would alleveiate the aggrivation associated with him, since Ted was obviously ignorant of such things.

By the time I gave the dog back to Ted.. he stayed RIGHT by my side.. (off leash), knew sit,lie down, roll over, speak, shake with both paws, pick a hand (for the hidden treat) bang your’e dead, and how to army crawl across the floor. He was completely housetrained with ZERO mistakes when he was let out regularly.

He was OBVIOUSLY intelligent, very playful and got along with all of my pets, as well as my very small children. Even my two small ferrets would crawl on him. I was beginning to regret the fact that I was going to have to give the dog back, as i really liked him.

However, i broke down and returned the dog, only to have him returned BACK to me for displaying the same behavior he’d exhibited before. I asked if Ted would rather that I just keep him and try to find him a home. He agreed, and of course, his home was with me.

Later, I moved to a new home where there were now men living with me. They were loud and they knew nothing of dogs, behavior, or nutrition. While I was out of town one week, they had been responsible for feeding him. Not knowing that the reason I fed such an expensive food was because my dogs were all allergic to mainstream dog food, they ran out of food and decided to just feed him the “cheap stuff” as they reasoned that I’d never know.

It was immediately evident. The dog started becoming territorail, growling at the other dogs, itching profusely, and his skin turned bright red. He then randomly bit one of the boys as they walked past him in the kitchen while he was vaccuuming up scraps. He then snapped at one of the girls while he and she were lying together on the couch I had no idea what was going on and as a resut, i came home early. The very afternoon I arrived home, the dog snapped at my small daughter and caught her lip. She was fine, but required a stitch. I’d only been home for 2 hours when we had to take her to the emergency room.
I was appauled and started to think that perhaps the “idiots” were right! Pitt Bulls WERE dangerous

By the time we got home, it was late, and I realized that the animals still had yet to be fed. I went to the pantry and was shocked to see the cheapest brand of generic dog food that the grocery store carried. I was furious as I had left specific instructions as to what food to buy, and had left money to do so. I suppose they thought the food would be gone by the time i got back, and they could spend the extra, and I’d be none the wiser. What they didn’t realize, was that the Pit’s food allergy caused aggression in him along with itching, wretching and hyperactivity.

NOW… My initial reaction to my daughter being bitten in the face was that I should kill the dog immediately. That it must be the “Pitt-Bull” in him that caused this. Upon later examination, I realized that perhaps there was another explanation, and due to my dogs history of good naturedness all the effort I’d put into him, and his general willingness to TRY to trust me after what he’d been through, i figured I owed it to him to give him a chance.
I changed his food back to his grain free food.. I isolated him out in the yard and I waited two weeks before I allowed him back into the house. This gave him PLENTY of time to get all the food and toxins out of his system. I then incorporated him VERY slowly back into the household. As I’d expected, his hyperactivity was gone, the red skin was gone, the itching, and most importantly.. the aggresiveness (even with the boys around).

Should I have condemned him to death? Some would say yes. Some No. What I say is this…….

ALL dogs are bred for a specific purpose. That’s the ONLY reason why we each have a specific favorite. A Hunting dog has been bred so that it’s natural ability to smell or give chase and carry things has been heightened to a degree of usefullness. Think of the Pointer, the Labrador, the Setter and the Retriever. NONE Of these dogs could do their jobs effectively had it not been bred stronger in their breed.
A Guard dog has been bred to fiercely guard it’s family and it’s surroundings. Dogs already have a natural tendency to do this, but in these dogs, it is even more Acute, because it’s been selectively bred into them.
A herding dog has been bred to give chase to animals and moving targets.. all animals have a prey drive, but for the Border Collie, Blue Heeler and Australian Sheppherd, it’s been SO bred into them, that it’s almost IMPOSSIBLE to KEEP them from displaying these tendencies and chasing anything that moves.

This brings us to the Pitt-Bull Terrier. In fact, the word terrier comes from the Middle French terrier, derived from the Latin terra, meaning earth. In time, the “Earth” dogs which were bred to kill vermin, a job which required much tennacity and ferociousness came to be called little “terrors.” Eventually, like most slang words, it morphed into the word terrier which included any spritely dog which had a distinctive character and a will of iron. They had such a feisty character, that originally they were referred to as “feists.” A character trait that has not been lost in hundreds of years of selective breeding and cross breeding.. so OBVIOUSLY it stands to reason, that being FEISTY and TENNACIOUS is a very STRONG breed characteristic.
When these dogs were faced with a challenge, they were valliant, and un-afraid. they took on dogs 10 times their size as if they were merely chihuahuas
so it stands to reason, that when the Bull Dog, was eventually crossed with one of these little terrors, it made quite a formidable animal.

From Wikipedia :

Most terrier breeds were developed in Great Britain and Ireland. They were used to control rats, rabbits, and foxes both over and under the ground. Some larger terriers were also used to hunt badgers. In fact, the word terrier comes from the Middle French terrier, derived from the Latin terra, meaning earth. The Kerry Blue Terrier and Airedale, however, are particularly noted for tackling river rats and otters in deep water. Different localities raised terriers suited to their hunting or vermin control needs. Terriers were crossed with hunting dogs, fighting dogs, and other terriers.
In the mid-19th century, with the advent of dog shows, various breeds were refined from the older purpose-bred dogs. All of today’s terrier breeds are bred primarily as pets.
The gameness of the early hunting terriers was exploited by using them in sporting contests. Initially, terriers competed in events such as clearing a pit of rats. The dog that was fastest in killing all the rats won….( a side note here.. if you’ve ever seen a wild rat fend for it’s life, you’d realize how vicious and dangerous they can be.. especially in a pack)

In the 18th century some terriers were crossed with hounds to improve their hunting, and some with fighting dog breeds to “intensify tenacity and increase courage”.[1] Some of the crosses with fighting dogs, Bull and Terrier crosses, were used in the blood sport of dog fighting…..another side note….. (This obviously proves that the Pit-Bulls abilty and desire to fight other dogs has been bred farther back than most people relaize, which makes it very ingrained in their nature.) The Modern pet breeds developed from the Bull and Terrier, such as the Miniature Bull Terrier, are listed by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) under Bull type terriers.[2]

Genetic analysis shows that most terriers are in the “modern/hunting” genetic cluster of dog breeds developed from the same pool of ancestors in Europe in the 19th century. A few terriers are found in the “mastiff” genetic cluster with Pomeranians, Labrador Retrievers, and other large-headed dogs, and the Tibetan Terrier is found in the older grouping of Asian and African dogs, along with the Pekingese.
Today, most terriers are kept as companion dogs and family pets. They are generally loyal and affectionate to their owners but can be “big characters” requiring a firm hand.

Terriers range greatly in appearance from very small, light bodied, smooth coated dogs such as the English Toy Terrier (Black and Tan), which weighs as little as 2.7 kg (6 lbs), to the very largest rough coated Airedale Terriers, which can be up to 32 kg (70 lbs) or more.

Now people. lets just ponder on all of this a moment….

If WAY back in the 19th century, someone crossed such a feisty little dog who’s very nature said “DON’T MESS WITH ME!! I’LL WIN!!!”

with a Large intimidating heavily muscled dog, (i.e. the Bull Dog) who was probably NOT very loving or kind because of his job, nor was he probably treated very well.

When you combine these two characteristics…. what exactly do you EXPECT to happen? Viola!! The PIT Bull Dog! The Blood sport of Dog Fighting had been around for a while, but NO one could win against this mutt!
This is the selective breeding which was required in order to come up with a dog who would be tenacious enough to go in fighting… have the energy to keep up, have the strenghth to endure the injuries, and have the feistyness to ignore the pain.

Now.. that’s NOT to say that things don’t improve over the next 100 years for these poor brave creatures, as there are PLENTY of pit-bull owners out there who can attest (as they have on this thread and others) that their Pit’s wouldn’t hurt a fly, much less attack a child!

But lets look at this logiclly people.

Should all pit-bulls be put down humanely to avoid another bite victim? No more than chihuahuas should all be put down as a breed to avoid bites to our unwitting hands and ankles whenever we “sit” in their territory (i.e. the couch!)I’ve never in my life seen a more territorial dog than a chihuahua! Just watch a few episodes of “The dog whisperer to come to the conclusion that Chihuahua’s have bitten more PEOPLE (men, women, AND children) than any other breed alive! But because they are tiny, people think it’s cute and encourage it or worse, just ignore it!

To say that a Pit-Bull isn’t genetically pre-disposed to aggression, is to say that a Border Collie isn’t pre-disposed to herding sheep.

Does it have to be controlled, and monitored and regarded respectfully? of course! If you turn an untrained border collie loose on a flock of anything they will chase the flock till they either catch one, bite one, or run them throug a fence! They are BORN with a natural Tendency to DO something, but they usually don’t know exactly WHAT that something is. They just know that they REALLY REALLY want to do it!

Is a Pit-Bull BORN violent? NO, but left unsocialized and unskilled with other dogs or children, it just knows that it really really wants to express itself and being of the Terrier variety, it knows it wants to do so with it’s teeth.

Now.. another “Dog” trait, is that when in a PACK environment.. EVERY DOG…. no matter the breed, turns into a killer. whether it is a rat, a cat, a rabbit or a kid that they are after, the more it screams, the more excited they get for the chase and the kill. Dogs are ANIMALS… the sweetest dogs turn into ruthless hunters when their instincts are turned on. My own SUPER SWEET, would never hurt a fly, and let the kittens SLEEP on her and eat her food WITH her, killed an entire litter of kittens with two of my other dogs, and YES, she was guilty with a dead kitten hanging out of her mouth. Should all Rat terriers be put do death because of it? Should I be sent to prison for animal abuse becase it happend?

Dogs are Dogs People.. there are genetic traits that are HARD WIRED into their DNA which MAKES them DOGS. We humans have taken advantage of those traits, and sometimes, we pay dearly for it.

I love my Pitt, and I did NOT have him put to sleep, nor did i give him away. I watch what he eats and i monitor his temperment. My daughter STILL loves him and understands that she shouldn’t have been touching him when he was eating. Do I think he will randomly attack her and eat her face off? no.. i think he will snap at her, or any person or animal to tell them to leave him alone when he’s eating, and that is what DOGS DO.

….. oh. and one more thought on the previous comment…. The main REASON that Pit Bulls have been highlighted in the news for all their bites, and the REASON that they are responsible for more deaths is NOT because they are inherriantly more violent with people than other dogs, it is because their jaws are so much more powerful and that they get such an adrenaline rush that they can’t feel pain. This.. yet again.. has been bred into the breed as a genetic trait… If a cocker spaniel were to attack someone (as I’ve seen them do in my own parents house) they would leave a bite wound, yes.. possibly a puncture wound. Would it be reported to the police? probably not. Would it be necessary to have stitches… most likely not, plausible, but not likely. IF the same bite was inflicted by a Pit, with the same ammount of aggression shown by the cocker.. the pit would do a massive ammount of more damage, just from the sheer power of their jaws, and their size… NOT because they were JUST MEANER. This would of course be a case for a hospital, in which case NOW the dog bite has been reported to the police, and instead of the fuzzy cocker spaniel, it was …. surprise… a PIT BULL in the news.

First and foremost it should be noted any dog is capable of killing and not just humans. They are predatorary animals, domesticated and left to discover the world by learning from human masters. Dogs as a whole respond only to emotion and behavioral instruction. If you feel the animal (not your “best friend”) is going to harm your children then stay with your child. You need to parent your child, imagine that. Train your children how to treat the animal and what signals a dog can give. Dogs do not snap folks, they are not serial killers. I have witnessed parents (if you want to call them that) allowing their spawn to hit, molest and abuse dogs and guess what? The dog gets defensive, not aggresive. Even dog fighting dogs are not aggresive. If they were they would hurt the handlers. No dog or any animal is totally safe. My parrot has a beak that will tear flesh and sometimes he does not want pets so he opens it in a threat. Guess we should ban and destroy it.

Second, we have a Rhodesian Ridgeback, I am so tired of being asked if she is a pitbull. I love pits but it just hows how ignorant people are about breed identification. Our 75 lb runt ridge lives with a 7 lb toy Foodle, a cat and a bird. She is the best large dog with kids BUT we never leave the dog unattended with a human monster. Ever. Since our animals are our children we decided to be parents and gaurd them.

Third, humans are the most destructive being on this planet. Lets ban us. We kill at will and choose what is right and wrong. Imagine if you took all those priests who hurt the little children and injected them to kill them, hmmm is that wrong? We do it to dogs. Now imagine we said all priests are to be killed. Something alarming? Bet you are getting flustered about now, well good. Humans are products of behavioral learning, surprise just like a dog. Those idiots that abuse kids were likely abused in their childhood and therefore think it is right. Only one difference, humans are aggressive. Dogs again are defensive.

Pitbulls are great dogs. Loyal, fun, strong and caring with a horrible wrap sheet because idiots have taught the dog incorrectly or not at all. When your families dog bares teeth what do you do? Most people ignore it or worse reward it. Think about that. On a walk where is your dog? From what I have seen most people let the dog in front. Guess what folks, that means you are not alpha in your pack. In your home who eats first? Do you walk your dog daily even though you have a yard? I could go on but the point is before people get a dog, especially a dominant breed, they should learn about dogs and ask if they are ready and willing. They should ask that before they have children as well.

Natural selection is at hand in many of your dog bite cases. The dog just snapped it all reads, it doesnt tell you about the sticks against the fence or the hitting of the dog. And heck the press is always truthful, right? Pitbulls are no more dangerous to our society then a postal clerk. But i guess we should ban them too. Hell let us ban everything that is a threat.

Remember folks the more involved a government is in your daily life the less civil liberties you have. Less liberties equals a totalitarianism. Uh oh.

[...] in veterinary hospitals for years, delivered thousands of pills and still – I am fooled by a Pit Bull who will walk into the corner and spit out her antibiotic 3 minutes after I believed she swallowed [...]

UM im sorry all you pitbull haters out there but THe pitbull breed IS THE MOST MISSINDERSTUD BREED!!!! All my life I have lived with Pitbulls! Not once was I ever scared that they were ever going to attack me or anyone else! REMEBER ITS HOW THE OWNER TREATS THEM THAT MAKES THEM AGRESSIVE! Also chihuahuas attack people more often than pitbulls you just don’t hear about them often because they don’t do alot of damage like the Pitbulls do! SO don’t judge the hole breed just because Dumb ass people dont know how to treat thier dogs!!!

I love my pit bull gnarley! She is the beautifulest bestest dog I have seriously ever had. She listens so good she suproses me more and more every day.She just had a litter of 9 pups and now she acts better than she did before.She is sucha good momma doggie!!!!! I love her so much and whenullget another pitb we lose her, curse that day I will definately get anopther pit. I love her very much and btw pit bulls are great dogs regardless of what the pit bull haters think!

first for those who are against pitbulls my question is have you ever owned one….or perhaps have you met a responsible pit bull owner where their dog is a house pet and a member of the family??? The answer i recieve most often is no and why would they or they would never. therefore their imagined knowledge of the subject comes from the news and from google searches- face it bad news sells people want to hear about some kid getting bit some man who his daughter hacked up and put in the well that is why the papers and post are full of them i always hear about some lowlife thug who turned his pitbull loose on some kid on the street and the dog gets the blame even though it probably spent its whole life on a chain in some disgusting lot with minimal contact with people and without proper care which will make any breed mean. yet the dog is at fault i don’t often hear about how the little rascals always had fun with their dog or how helen keller owned a pitbull or that at one time a pitbull reprsented america.so really people you can pull as many ‘facts’ out of your ass that you want as many numbers and figures but you can make any fact sheet to pretty much say what you want like how dangerous drinking water is, but from my personal knowledge and many owners like me my dog has never bit anyone we go to petsmart all the time her best friend is a chiuahua and her eagerness to please and loyalty have made training a breeze she sleeps in the house on my bed and goes to mcdonalds. my lazy lovebug is not a ticking time bomb i know because i have had three pitbulls in my life and not one has so much as lifted a lip to me. So before your next post i dare you to go find a reputated breeder or owner who loves their dog and doesnt keep it on a chain or uses it to fight or recklessly breeds these beautiful animals for a profit some one who actually trained their dog to have manners and get back to me and i ask you first it will be our pitbulls but how will you feel when it is your labs or yorkies or spaniels on the line. you think they dont have a history?

ok i have three apbt two males and a bitch and i have had 2 of these dogs for ten years and the other for just 3 and a half years…which is the older two’s son…

in the whole time i have ever owned the dogs i have been stopped by countless people asking what breed they are and these people usually compliment the dogs saying they are very friendly and very nice dogs, then when you tell some people they are the illegal killer dogs they are labeled as people find it very hard to see why they got such a bad name and reputation….

i blame all the irresponsible people who buy these dogs and give them no time leaving them outside as a status symbol and the rats who fight them for money or again their status ….

these people should be put in a ring with some people aggressive dogs and killed while us pitbull owners who care for our dogs watch on…

if a whole breed can be banned just because of a few assholes who can just keep buying these dogs and keep them off the grid anyway what kind of justice is that…

why not have the rspca visit people suspected of having the dogs and assess the conditions of the dogs to make sure they are not fighting them or mistreating the animal….also if people are allowed the breed and they are the responsible owners of the dog you could bring in a policy of a few extra measures such as making it a prescribed breed which you would have to get the dog checked up by a vet more often to be assessed…. meaning a vet could do temperment tests on the dog and as well as the chipping the dog you could make it a law to have the picked up and the microchip scanned when the dog dies so that it would be easier for the rspca to find the illegal dogs they are trying to find…

if us as dog lovers of this breed tried to expose the guy’s who is ruining things for us as responsible pet owners i think we should then with the less assholes out there things might look up for us in the future….

even here in northern ireland i have been stopped by a couple of cops and they knew i had pitbulls … but the cop was really a stand up guy and he even said to me that my pet pitbull dogs are not the kind of dogs they are interested in, he said the dogs they want to find they are never walked in public and they are covered in scars….and he never reported me he actually really liked the dogs and said he would like on himself if i have a new litter…

so i think it is important for us real owners and the rspca the cops and judges should work together to help these dogs live their lives as a part of a family

you know it’s funny do you know that there are police dog’s that are pitbulls yea haha one of them is down on the border stoping people from smugling drugs over here that will kill ur children but ur to dumb to know that right jump on the band wagon the news says pitbulls attack the most yea right then why would ur sweet goverment say there number 3 for human comaionship for familys with small children hahah i could go on for days but i got better things to do then argue with people who our one minded i hope your dog attacks someone and gets takin away and put to sleep see how you like it punk read up on whats really said bout the breed from people who research bout breeds of dogs. grow a set of balls and stop listing to the news my dad was attack at a younger age by 3 german shepards ok kill off the breed ok i was attacked by a cockerspainal lets kill off the breed ok ur family attacked my family lets kill off ur breed sounds kinda dumb rite but one voice can start to change the whole out look on anything punk so set ur butt on ur couch and do what everyone else says so you’ll have a easy life god you people make me sick vomit yukkkkk

I’ve had a number of bulldogs and bulldog mixes: they’re very common in Florida. I’ve never had any problems. Most of the “problem” dogs are kept on a 6 foot chain all the time and never allowed to associate with people. Some people purposely raise dogs like that to be vicious, and these people choose dogs like pits, dobermans, rotts, and Shepherds to make vicious.

Yes pitbulls are given a bad name. This is becase some people judge them without owning one or even trying to give this dogs a chance. I have a very close friend that has two pitbulls and they are very protective of my children. They have never even offered to bite anyone. I have made my desicon on getting a pitbull as puppy and raising it with my family because i think every dog should have a chance at life and to have a loving home.Those people that has not ever owned a pitbull should not have anything to say about pitbull dogs.

You people are such ignorant hicks, and most of you should be so, so ashamed. I mean, truly, ashamed. If you are a canine racist I ought to expect you should be a human racist too, right? Otherwise, what a steaming pile of hypocrite. *stinks stinks

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In the 70′s they blamed the German Shepherd, In the 80′s they blamed the Doberman, The 90′s they blamed the Rott, 2000 they blame the Pit Bull. When will we blame the people?
Ignorance of the breed is what is responsible for dog attacks. You mostly ignorant responders, do a little research before you go and act like experts. APB dogs are ranked #2 in friendliness toward humans, right behind the beloved Golden Retriever. Also look up dog fatalities on Wiki, you will see that nearly every breed has been responsible for a human death. Even a Jack Russell Terrier (he killed a newborn baby. So again you bunch of ignorant wimps need to do your homework. Most of your comments are based on media hysteria NOT FACT. P.S. Look up Lily the 8 year old Pit Bull who saved her drunk ass owners life.Pit Bulls are just like any other dog, most of you do not have any experience to be judging them. Try having an independent mind of your own.

[…] Specific Legislation acts being brought forward in more and more areas across the country, dogs like Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Doberman Pinschers and other “scary” looking breeds are in danger of losing their […]